Validation from One’s Self

“I don’t need validation from others.”
He said.

“I just need validation from myself.”
He continued.

“What would have to happen
for you to validate
yourself?”
She asked.

“I would have to hit 10M
in annual revenue.”
He answered.

“Who would give you that money?”
She asked.

“Nobody would give me that money.
I would earn it!”
He answered
valiantly.

“Earn
from whom?”
She asked.

“The customers.”
He answered

“So you need validation
from your customers?”
She asked.

“Yes.”
He answered.

Talent

Too many times,
have I heard that talent
without hard work
is nothing.

The over-emphasis on hard work
can mask the fact
that talent is talent
precisely because
it’s not hard work.

Sometimes
we spend so much time
trying to get better at what is hard
at the expense of discovering how what comes easy,
our talent,
can be shaped
to provide significant value.

Business is not a war

Business
is often compared
to a war.

There are
competitions.

Founders
feel hurt in the process.

It is important
to survive.

But business
is also different
from a war.

Because you may win a war
by crushing the competition.

But in business
even in the absence of competition
you only win
by winning with
the customers.